


Ten Things I Hate About Clueless Mean Girls

by radioactivesaltghoul



Series: AU Rabbit Hole 'verse [2]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crack, F/M, M/M, Mutual Pining, Reylo - Freeform, but the urge to shamelessly quote mean girls was too strong, horrendous amounts of mutual pining, i can't even take credit for half of these lines, i'm so weak for dumb high school comedies, rabbit hole verse: friends, what does being supreme prom leader entail?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-05-28 16:49:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15053594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radioactivesaltghoul/pseuds/radioactivesaltghoul
Summary: Rey and Ben are the new kids at school.(Or: what happens when you take canon Rey and Ben, put them in a high school AU, and shamelessly quote classic high school movies of the 90s and 00s?)





	1. I want you to want me

**Author's Note:**

> If you’re new to Rabbit Hole ‘verse, here’s the basic gist: canon Kylo is an idiot and messes with Force things he doesn’t understand and accidentally puts himself and Rey into a spell where they’re dropped from AU to AU with no control over where they’re going. By this point, they’ve been traveling long enough to become ‘friends with an excess of mutual pining.’ This should be self-contained enough that you don't need to read the main fic to enjoy this "deleted scene" (although I'd love it if you did!)

“This is your lunch, okay? Now, I put a dollar in there so that you can buy some milk. You can ask one of the big kids where to do that.” 

_What the kriff?_ Why was Han Solo standing in front of Ben, holding a brown paper bag? 

“You remember your phone number? I wrote it down for you, just in case. Put it in your pocket, I don’t want you to lose it.”

And why was Leia Organa sticking a slip of paper into his shirt pocket? 

“Okay? You ready?” Leia asked.

“I...think so?” Ben said. He looked down and held back a groan. Once again, he had been aged down to about sixteen or seventeen years old. _More hormones. Kriffing wonderful._

“Good luck on your first day of school, honey!” Leia called after him as he got on the yellow bus waiting in front of the house. (He’d spent enough time in this sort of universe to know how buses worked.) He sat down in the first empty seat and sighed. This universe was off to an uncomfortable start. Not only was he a teenager (again), but he apparently lived with both of this parents, which was always difficult to stomach.

Great.

Where was Rey?

 

* * *

 

Rey took a deep breath as she entered the school building, praying that she wasn’t walking into a bunch of established drama. Given the fact that she’d been aged back down to a teenager again, it was likely. Teenagers and drama seemed to go hand-in-hand for people with normal upbringings.

Strangely, she made it through the first half of the day without running into anyone she knew. Sure, she had been introduced as a new student at the school (‘Coruscant High’? Seriously?), but the fact that she hadn’t run into anyone from her universe was making her uneasy. And then there was Ben. He had to be here, didn’t he? They usually didn’t stay apart for very long, especially in more recent universes.

A glance at her schedule told her that it was time for lunch, so she followed the stream of students headed towards the cafeteria. If there was anyone from her universe who was also in this one, she reasoned, they were probably there. It seemed like an appropriate moment for something like that to happen. And she wasn’t disappointed--as she made her way across the lunch room, searching for an empty table, she literally ran into someone.

“Why hello there,” he said, looking her up and down. “We’re doing a lunchtime survey of new students. Can you answer a few questions?”

Rey narrowed her eyes slightly, trying to place him. He wasn’t some minor character from her universe, was he?

The boy took her silence as consent, so he continued with, “Is your muffin buttered?”

“My what?” Rey was confused. She didn’t even have a muffin. Just a sandwich in a bag.

“Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?”

“What?” Okay, there _had_ to be some double-meaning to this that Rey was missing.

“Oh my god, Jason,” a familiar voice said from behind Rey. She jumped. _No. It can’t be._ She turned to face the speaker. _Why did Hux, Phasma, and Mitaka have to be the first people I ran into here?_ she wondered.

“You were supposed to call me,” Mitaka said to Jason.

“Jason,” Hux said icily. “You do not come to a party at my house with Mitaka and then scam on some poor, innocent girl three days later.” Rey bristled at ‘innocent,’ but Hux wasn’t done speaking. “She’s not interested.” He looked at Rey and asked, “Do you want to have sex with him?” 

_Oh. So_ that’s _what a buttered muffin is._ “No thank you,” she said, far more politely than anyone involved in the conversation deserved. 

“Good. So it’s settled. You can go shave your back now. Bye, Jason.”

If Rey hadn’t been so used to weird shit like this, she would have scurried off to try to find people she was more comfortable with. But before she could move, Hux said, “Wait, sit down.”

“Excuse me?” Rey said.

Hux gestured to the seat across from him, Phasma and Mitaka on either side of him. “Sit down with us. I don’t know you. What’s your name? Are you new here?”

Rey nodded as she sat down slowly. Surely, the First Order people were meant to run into Ben instead of her? “I’m Rey,” she said. 

“Well, you should hang with us. We rule Coruscant High. You’re too pretty to let wander amongst the other riff-raff that hangs out at this school.”

Hux thought she was pretty? That was an uncomfortable concept. “Uh, thanks, I think,” she said gruffly.

“So you agree,” said Hux quickly.

“Sorry?”

“You think you’re really pretty.”

“Oh, I don’t kno--”

“You should eat lunch with us this week,” Phasma said.

“On Wednesdays, we wear pink,” Mitaka added.

“Um--” Rey said, but the bell rang before she could respond. _Seriously? How long was that lunch break, anyway? Ten minutes?_

“We’ll see you later, Rey,” Hux said.

_What the kriff just happened?_ Rey thought as she watched the cafeteria clear out. _Am I now friends with the First Order?!_

 

* * *

 

“Ben, right?”

Ben jumped at the sound of Poe Dameron’s voice from behind him. “Yes?” he said.

“I’m Poe,” Dameron said as he held out his hand. “Poe Dameron. I’m your new student guide.”

“Uh, okay.” Why was Dameron leading him around? Didn’t he usually end up with Rey? Not that Ben was jealous, or anything. Of course not.

“Did you have to wait until after school to come find me?” Ben asked grumpily. “I’ve been late to every class today because I keep getting lost.”

Dameron shrugged. “It’s just how this stuff works,” he said. “Now come on. Let me show you the lay of the land.” He led Ben through a courtyard where students were hanging out, enjoying the sunny weather. “Over there you have your basic beautiful people. Now listen. Unless they talk to you first, don’t bother,” he said. Ben wondered if it was an actual rule or not, but he was too busy trying to scan the crowd for Rey to ask. “To your left, we have the sexually active band geeks,” Dameron said as he Ben further into the group of students milling around and pointed towards another group. “And these guys are--”

But Ben wasn’t listening. _Rey._ He didn’t even need to speak it aloud before she looked over and locked eyes with him. It was reassuring to know that she was at the same school, even if it meant another round of “trying to pretend that I’m not a hot hormonal mess” around her.

“I burn, I pine, I perish,” he found himself saying. _Where the hell did_ that _come from?_ he wondered.

Dameron followed Ben’s gaze and sighed. “That’s the ‘don’t even think about it’ group,” he said. “Listen. Forget about her. Forget about them. Trust me. They’re bad news.” 

He was barely listening, though. All he could focus on was Rey. Not that he knew what to say. (He never did, these days. They were friends, sort of. But was it possible to _really_ be friends with someone he was hopelessly in love with?) He couldn’t tell if she wanted to talk to him. She stood frozen on the sidewalk until a car carrying three very familiar people pulled up next to her. “Get in, loser,” Phasma said to Rey. “We’re going shopping.” Without another glance at Ben, she turned and got into the car. 

“Like I said,” Dameron said, nudging Ben’s shoulder. “Forget about them.” 

“Why are they so bad?” he asked. He knew why he and Rey thought they were bad, but what was the in-universe deal with Hux, Phasma, and Mitaka?

“Hux--the ginger one--is bad news,” Dameron said gruffly. “He’s a life-ruiner. He ruins people’s lives.”

Well, Ben couldn’t argue with that.

“I don’t know who that girl is--she must be new as well--but if she’s hanging out with them, she’s a lost cause already. Put her in your spank bank and move on.”

“My what?” He turned to give Dameron a confused look.

“Your...you don’t know what a spank bank is?”

Ben shook his head.

Dameron raised his eyebrows. “Google it, buddy,” he said.

 

* * *

 

“Who was that guy you were eyefucking in the courtyard?” asked Mitaka as they sat down at a table in the shopping center. “I don’t recognize him, but he looked like he knew you.”

“I don’t know,” Rey lied. “I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

“He was hanging out with Poe Dameron,” Phasma said, glancing at Hux.

“You can’t hang out with them,” Hux said to Rey. “It’s social suicide." 

“Why?”

Phasma, Hux, and Mitaka exchanged some whispers that Rey pretended she couldn’t hear. _Should we tell her? She should know. It’s important!_

“So here’s the thing,” Phasma said as soon as the three of them came to an agreement. “Poe and Hux used to date. But then Poe got, like, really weird. He was like, ‘why can’t you guys be nice?’ and ‘we shouldn’t exclude people or start stupid rumors about them.’ And we were like, hello, that’s just what we _do._ We’re all friends because we know what it’s like for people to be jealous of us. And then it turned into this whole big thing, and they broke up, and now we hate Poe Dameron and anyone else he hangs out with.” 

“I was half a virgin when I met him,” Hux said, sounding hurt.

Rey _really_ didn’t want to know what that meant.

“Do you want to do something fun?” Mitaka asked quickly. “Wanna go to Taco Bell?”

“I can’t go to Taco Bell,” Hux said, now in full teenage-drama-meltdown mode. “I’m on an all-carb diet. God, Mitaka, you’re so _stupid._ ”

 

* * *

 

“It’s weird that you’re hanging out with my people and I’m hanging out with yours, right?” Ben whispered to Rey during their one shared class, calculus. Given that neither of them had any experience with the school system in this world, it was not going well for either of them, but she had caught on more quickly than he had.

“It’s October third,” Rey said quickly. She blinked, looking confused. “Why did I just say that?” she whispered. Ben didn’t know if she was talking to him or not. Before he could answer, she said, “Yeah, it’s really weird. I’m not sure what it all means yet.” 

“Probably nothing,” he said. “Any luck finding the holocron piece yet?" 

“No. You?”

“Mr Solo. Ms Heron. Got something you’d like to share with the class?”

Ben and Rey looked up to see Amilyn Holdo staring down at them, a whiteboard marker in her hand. “Just discussing the date, Ms Holdo,” Rey said with a smile. 

“It’s October third,” Ben said quickly. _Why did_ I _just say it?_ he wondered. What was so special about October third? 

“Look, Hux is hosting a party tonight,” Rey whispered as soon as Holdo walked away. “Poe knows where he lives. You guys should come.”

“Would we even be welcome?” Ben whispered. “Hux and Poe _hate_ each other.”

“If the Poe here is anything like Poe at home,” Rey said with a grin, “he won’t be able to resist the urge to blow something up, metaphorically as well as literally.” 

“Grool,” Ben said. He winced. “I meant to say ‘cool’ then I started to say ‘great.’”

Rey gave him a look that said she was trying to hold back laughter. “Real ‘grool,’ Ben.”

 

* * *

 

The party was in full swing and Rey was three shots in by the time Ben and Poe showed up.

“Oh, my god,” Phasma said, pulling Rey aside as they watched them make their way into the kitchen, trying too hard to look casual. “Can you believe the nerve of Poe Dameron? Hux is gonna lose his shit when he sees him.” 

“You know who’s looking fine tonight?” Rey asked, the tequila shots in full effect. “Ben Solo.”

Phasma turned to give her a _look._ “Okay, you did _not_ just say that.”

“What?” 

“He’s your _cousin,_ ” Phasma said.

“No, he’s not,” Rey said quickly. “That was debunked. Why won’t that theory just die? It’s canon that my parents are randos who abandoned me, and I am _definitely_ not related to Ben Solo. Thank the Force.” 

“What are you talking about? What theory? What force?”

Rey realized her slip too late. “Nothing. I don’t know! I’m drunk.”

The look on Phasma’s face darkened as she spotted something over Rey’s shoulder. “Keep playing the ignorant drunk girl, because shit’s about to get serious.” Rey looked over in the direction of Phasma’s gaze and grimaced. Two girls she didn’t recognize were about to start a fight. Rey wasn’t paying attention to what they were saying, but she could tell from their body language that one was about to rip the other’s hair out.

“I need another shot or five of that tequila,” she said suddenly, pushing past Phasma. What had she been thinking, inviting Ben to this party? It wasn’t even her party. And it was probably a bad idea to get drunk around him, right? Not when there was so much she was trying to hide from him, and given how much alcohol lowered her inhibitions, she was setting herself up for disaster. But the alcohol helped dull the ache of all of the confusing things she felt for him, so it couldn’t be all _that_ bad, could it?

The more shots she did, the more numb she felt to the whole situation. And naturally, after three more shots that she downed in an attempt to forget about the very existence of Ben Solo, she stumbled and literally fell into his arms.

 


	2. I need you to need me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not a high school comedy without someone getting embarrassingly drunk and vomiting in their love interest's lap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I definitely meant to have this up sooner. (This is what happens when you have multiple WIPs and go "but I need to finish the whole thing before I post it!" and lack the free time to actually do so.)

“Ben!” Rey shouted as she wriggled out of his grasp. “You’re here!” 

Ben didn’t know why she was acting surprised. “You knew I was here as soon as I arrived. We made eye contact. Also, it is literally impossible to go anywhere and not sense you.” The words came out sounding more bitter than he intended them to, but she was so drunk that she probably didn’t even notice.

“Phasma thinks we’re cousins,” she said with a giggle.

“Why is it so difficult for people to believe that nobody outside of the Skywalker bloodline can be incredibly powerful in the Force?” Ben said grouchily.

“Beats me,” she said. “Except not actually because _ha,_ I beat you in combat.” She reached out and traced a finger down the the scar on his face, causing him to shiver despite how hot it was inside the house.

“Yeah,” he said breathlessly as her fingers lingered on his collarbone. “You did.” _And somehow I love you for it._ “How much have you had to drink?”

She shrugged. “It’s a party” was all she said. Her fingers lingered on his collarbone for another moment before she said, “It’s really hot in here.” She started to fiddle with the hem of her shirt and as much as Ben wanted to see her topless, he didn’t want to do so while she was too drunk to know what she was doing. And anyway, he didn’t want everyone _else_ to see her topless. 

“Let’s go outside,” he said, taking her by the hand and pulling her out the back door. He pulled her past the group of kids passing around the biggest bong he’d ever seen to a picnic table out in the backyard. (He had to hand it to in-universe Hux’s parents. They had a _really_ nice house and yard.)

“I probably shouldn’t be so drunk around you,” she said as she flopped down on the bench.

That didn’t sound good. “Why not? Because we’re enemies?”

“Are we?” she asked. “It’s really confusing. I hate being a teenager again.” She leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder. “Why do I have to keep hanging out with Hux, Phasma, and Mitaka?”

“Because they seem to like you, and if we blend in to whatever roles this universe has for us, it tends to make our already difficult lives a little easier,” he reminded her.

“But they’re _your_ friends.”

He snorted. “Not really,” he said. He paused as he registered a sudden change in her. Something was wrong. Probably the alcohol. He looked over at her and noticed that her eyes had shut. “Rey?” he said, holding her by the shoulders so that he could get a better look at her. “Are you okay?”

Her eyes flew open suddenly, and she gave him a look that he didn’t know how to interpret. “Hey...your eyes have a little green in them.” While Ben was busy trying to figure out what the hell _that_ meant (his eyes had no green in them under any sort of lighting), she opened her mouth and threw up on his lap.

“Kriff this,” Ben muttered. “I _hate_ high school.” He didn’t know where she lived, but given the fact that the vast majority of the times they were in this sort of universe, she lived in foster care or group homes, she probably didn’t have parents waiting up for her. “I can’t leave you here,” he muttered. He pulled out his phone to shoot a text to Poe-- _Sorry, I have to take care of my friend, let me know if you need me to come get you later_ \--and then picked Rey up and carried her to his car. 

Or, that was the plan, anyway. Teenage Ben didn’t have the amount of muscle that thirtysomething Ben had, and after five steps, he ended up putting Rey back down on the ground so that he could sling an arm around her waist to carry her that way. She was still conscious enough to walk with his help, and he heard a couple of boys whistle and catcall after them. If he hadn’t been so focused on getting Rey to his car before she passed out, he would have started a fight. _How dare they._

“Where are you taking me?” Rey murmured as Ben buckled her into the car seat.

“Home,” he said. “I’m not letting you pass out in the yard here.”

“You don’t know where I live.”

“Are you going to tell me?”

When she didn’t respond, Ben risked a glance over at her. He was mildly alarmed to see that she’d passed out but after a quick mental check, he realized that she was just too drunk to stay awake any longer, and he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

Bringing a passed-out drunk girl back to his parents’ house was exactly as awkward as he imagined it would be. “Oh, don’t worry about it!” Leia said as she watched Ben bring Rey upstairs to his room. “I’m not a regular mom. I’m a cool mom. If you kids are gonna drink, I’d rather you do it in the house.”

“I’m not drunk,” he muttered, his face heating up. “She’s just a friend. It’s nothing. I just don’t know where she lives and I didn’t want to just leave her at the party.” 

“Whatever you say, dear,” his mother said with a fond pat to the cheek.

 

* * *

 

The urgent need to vomit woke Rey up the next morning. She didn’t know where she was or how she’d gotten there, but whoever had tucked her in had thought to put a bucket next to the bed. She was so miserable and confused that she didn’t even register that someone had entered the room until Ben was handing her a bottle of water. 

“Drink this,” he said.

“Am I where I think I am?” she said as she took the bottle from him.

“I slept on the couch,” he said quickly. “I didn’t--”

For all of Ben’s (numerous) issues, she didn’t think he’d ever take advantage of anyone like that. “I know you didn’t,” she said right before another round of nausea hit.

“If you’re up for it, my dad is cooking breakfast,” he said gruffly.

“Your--”

“Yeah,” he said with a sigh. “Han is here.” Before she could ask anything else, he said, “Why did you tell me I had green eyes last night?”

Did she say that? Everything was a blur after that weird conversation with Phasma.

“I guess you don’t remember that,” Ben said when she didn’t answer.

“Sorry,” she said. Stars, hangovers were _terrible._ Shouldn’t Jedi--or, rather, Force-sensitives--be immune to hangovers, or something?

“If you want to shower, the fresher’s down the hall. There are clean towels in the closet. But if you’d rather just go back to sleep, don’t worry about it. Sleep as long as you like.” He reached out a hand as if he was going to--what, touch her? Run his fingers through her hair? No, Rey had to be imaging those things--but the he turned and closed the door gently behind him as he left.

Well, kriff. This is not what Rey had intended. First of all, if ( _if_ ) she ever ended up in Ben Solo’s bed, she wanted it to be sober and _not_ in a teenager’s body. Second of all, she had not planned on getting too drunk to get home last night.

Dammit. Why did Phasma have to combine the worst parts of Rey’s insecurities into one mega “remind Rey of where she comes from and how she feels about Ben kriffing Solo” conversation?

After a few more minutes of wallowing in regret and self-loathing, Rey forced herself out of bed and down the hallway to take a shower. She had to admit that she did feel a lot better once she’d showered, even though she didn’t have anything else to put on besides her dirty clothes from the night before. And they were _gross._ She’d vomited on her shirt. But considering the fact that her options were “wear the dirty shirt” or “wander around topless,” she went for the slightly less uncomfortable option.

She was finger-combing her hair when she heard a knock on the door. “I, uh, heard you,” Ben said from the other side of the door. “You’re projecting again.”

_Shit. Kriffing hangover._ “Sorry,” she said. “I’ll stop.”

“No, it’s fine. I, uh, brought you a clean shirt.”

Oh. That was really nice of him. As was the fact that he’d brought her somewhere safe, preventing her from passing out in Hux’s backyard (or worse, naked in someone else’s bed). “Thanks,” she said gruffly, angling her body so that she could open the door to take it from him. (She wouldn’t have minded so much if she hadn’t been in her awkward, knobby, teenage body.)

“No problem,” Ben muttered, clearly feeling about as comfortable with the situation as she did. After a moment, he added, “Feel free to come downstairs whenever.”

It took Rey a few more minutes of concentrating enough to put her mental walls back up and pep talk herself into going downstairs. _You can’t hang out in Ben Solo’s alternative universe parents’ washroom forever,_ she told herself. _Suck it up and go get some kriffing food. It’ll settle your stomach._

And maybe there was something that her Force-sensitivity could do for her hangover, she realized as she made her way through a breakfast of bacon and eggs. She did feel better. The headache was becoming more tolerable, and the nausea had faded. Unfortunately, it didn’t do much to help clear the awkward air between her and Ben, and she was saved from having to figure out what to say to him by the sound of a knock at the front door.

A moment later, Poe walked into the kitchen. He looked at Rey, then looked at Ben, eyebrows raised in a silent question. “So this is why you ditched me last night,” he said. There was a tone in his voice that Rey didn’t know how to interpret. He was probably pissed off that Ben left without him. That was all it was, right?

“Sorry about that,” Ben said, refusing to look at Rey. “She passed out and I couldn’t just leave her there.”

Poe gave Ben another look before he turned to Rey and held out a hand. “Hi, I’m--”

“Poe Dameron,” Rey said, shaking his hand. “I know. Rey Heron.”

He grinned at her, turning on the charm that he always seemed to have wherever they went. “It’s nice to officially meet you, Rey Heron.”

Rey smiled back, unsure of the protocol here. If Poe was her in-universe self’s friend’s ex and Ben’s in-universe self’s best friend, how was she supposed to act? Friendly? Aloof? Ben must have wanted to extract himself from the conversation just as badly as she did, because he said, “Whenever you’re ready, I’ll take you home.” She flashed him a grateful smile, then went back to eating her eggs.

Unsurprisingly, this universe had placed her in a shitty foster home presided over by a human version of Unkar Plutt. She wasn’t in any particular rush to get back, even though a part of her desperately wanted to get away from Ben so that she could have a panic attack in peace. Stars, she’d woken up _in his bed_ after blacking out. There were a million things she could have said to him and with no recollection of what she’d actually said, her imagination was left to free fall into all of the awkward, horrible possibilities.

“So you’re also pretty new to Coruscant High, right?” Poe said. “How’d you wind up on this side of the pond?”

_What pond?_ she wondered. “It just sort of happened,” she said. Which was the truth, although not in the way that Poe would probably interpret it. “I didn’t have much of a choice in ending up here.” She could tell that Ben was struggling to hide a smile from his face. _That’s one way of putting it,_ she heard him think.

“And how do you like it so far? You’ve been here what, now, a month?”

Rey nodded. “It’s fine,” she said. “It’s just school.” She and Ben had been worse places.

Poe glanced at Ben. “That was some party last night, huh?” he said to both of them. “We had a good time crashing it, didn’t we, Ben?”

Rey’s eyes snapped to Ben’s, but he was suddenly studying the pattern on the tablecloth like it was the most interesting puzzle he’d ever seen. “It was fine,” he said, his tone suspiciously even. If Rey hadn’t spent so much time stuck with him, she might not have noticed the slight tremor. Was Poe trying to hint at something? 

“I hear you’re the one to thank for that invitation,” Poe said to Rey in the same tone of voice that implied there was another meaning to the conversation that she was missing. “You and Hux are close, huh?”

Ah. That was the meaning. Teenage drama. “We’re friends,” she said with a shrug. Was she supposed to acknowledge that she knew what history in-universe Poe and Hux shared?

“Really,” Poe said. “Funny. He doesn’t usually accept new people into his clique. They’re pretty exclusive. You must be something special.”

What the hell was she supposed to say to that? “Ben, can you give me a ride home now?” she asked instead. “I should probably get back before someone wonders where I am.” It was a lie--Plutt didn’t give a shit so long as he still got money from the foster care system--but she didn’t want to continue this conversation.

Ben didn’t, either, judging by the barely concealed look of irritation on his face. “Sure,” he said, standing up. 

“I’m coming, too,” Poe said quickly. Ben and Rey exchanged glances. _Is it going to be more or less awkward to have Poe as a buffer?_ Rey wondered.

 

* * *

 

Ben didn’t know why he was so irritated with Poe’s behavior towards Rey. He was just being conversational. After all, in-universe Poe and Rey had never actually spoken, as far as Ben knew. But there was an undercurrent to the conversation that he couldn’t figure out, and he didn’t like it.

“You can drop me off here,” Rey said quietly as they drove through a seedy part of town that Ben hadn’t known even existed. It wasn’t a surprise that this universe had placed her somewhere like this, but it still made something in his gut twist as he thought about her living situation. It was like he felt some sort of weird guilt over it, which didn’t make any sense. He had as much control over how these universes worked as she did. So why did he find himself thinking that it would have been better if she’d ended up living with his parents and he’d ended up here? _Kriffing irony,_ he thought.

Throughout the drive, Poe had sat in the passenger seat, asking Rey questions about herself. _What are your hobbies? Have you ever considered joining robotics club? No, it’s not social suicide. Who told you that? You seem cool. We should hang out more often._ She’d responded with polite answers, skirting the line between ‘saying something socially acceptable for this universe’ and ‘blatantly lying about her past.’

He had to give it to Dameron. No matter what universe they were in, he always possessed the kind of charm and confidence that Ben could only dream of having. And, unsurprisingly, it seemed to be working on Rey.

“Are you sure?” he said, looking at the buildings around him. It didn’t look safe. Granted, she could take care of herself, but...still. He didn’t like it.

“Yeah, this is fine,” she said, unbuckling her seatbelt. “Thanks for the ride.” He pulled over and she stepped out of the car and onto the sidewalk. She gave the car an awkward half-wave before turning and walking away.

Dameron was silent for all of two minutes after Rey got out of the car. “She’s cute,” he said casually. “Even if she does have the bad taste to hang out with the Plastics.” That was Dameron’s nickname for Hux, Mitaka, and Phasma. Ben still hadn’t figured out exactly what he meant by it.

_Don’t be jealous, don’t be jealous,_ he repeated to himself. “Is she?” he said as casually as he could manage.

“Mysterious, but cute,” Dameron said.

Ben tried to shrug as if he was uninterested in the conversation, but his knuckles had gone white on the steering wheel as he started to lose his cool. “Sure,” he said as he felt his temper rise. What right did Dameron have to be interested in Rey? And she was annoyed at having to hang out with Hux, Phasma, and Mitaka instead of with Dameron or one of her other friends. Did that mean that she was interested in him? And not just in-universe Dameron, either. Their-universe Dameron. 

It would make sense, Ben mused. He was all good-looking charm and “doing the right thing” and “being a hero.” Rey was into that sort of thing, wasn’t she?

“Ben,” Dameron said sharply, pulling him out of his spiraling thoughts. “Pull over. There’s a cop behind you.”

He looked in the rearview mirror and saw the flashing lights. _Kriff. What do I do?_ He pulled over and forced himself to take several deep breaths. _Whatever it is, I’m sure I can mind-trick myself out of it._

Either Ben was more out of practice with mind-tricks than he realized, or his control of the Force in this universe was so low that it wasn’t doing anything, because the next thing he knew, the cop was taking his license away and giving him a slip of paper with some instructions that didn’t mean anything to him other than _You owe someone money_ and _You can’t drive for six months._  

“I can drive us back to your parents’ house,” Poe said. He was much more subdued than he had been ten minutes ago. “Sorry, man. That’s harsh. Are you always this bad at driving?”

Great. So not only was Dameron better-looking and more charming than he was, but Rey had taken notice, Ben had lost his ability to (legally) drive, and he couldn’t even do a measly mind-trick. _This just keeps getting better and better._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to poke me on [tumblr](https://radioactivesaltghoul.tumblr.com/) if you're itching for an update.


	3. I'd love you to love me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If there’s one thing that high school comedies teach you, it’s that using someone to make someone else jealous never ends well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look we're back! And good news, you won't have to wait two weeks for the last chapter of this ~~fever dream~~ story!

“I heard that you left my party with Ben Solo on Saturday,” Hux whispered to Rey in history class on Monday. “Seriously?”

“I was drunk, and he gave me a ride home,” she said. She still hadn’t gotten over how embarrassed she was about the whole situation in the first place. “That’s all.”

Hux gave her a calculating look that was comfortingly familiar. (Which said a lot about where she was at this point in her life, that ‘calculating’ was a comfortably familiar look on her in-universe self’s friend’s face.) “He’s kinda hot, if you’re into the emo look." 

“Is he? I hadn’t noticed.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Rey Heron,” Hux said with a grin. “But I’ll allow it. It’s really too bad he has the poor taste to hang out with Poe Dameron.”

That was the other weird thing that had happened on Sunday. Her conversation with Poe. They shared a class--health--but Ben and Hux also shared that class, so they’d never actually spoken in favor of sitting with their in-universe friends. It was like he’d gone from zero to eleven with his interest in Rey as soon as he walked into Ben’s house and saw her sitting at the table, wearing Ben’s shirt. (Which was a whole other thing. Rey refused to think about why the shirt smelled so good and why it did funny things to her stomach to know that she was wearing Ben’s clothing.) “Right,” she said, unsure of how else to respond.

“So what’s his deal, anyway?” Hux asked, oblivious to Rey’s discomfort.

“His deal?”

“Yeah, you know. Is he single?”

Rey felt her face turn a very bright shade of red. Which wouldn’t look suspicious to Hux _at all._ “I don’t know,” she lied. “I don’t really know him. He was just nice enough to make sure I didn’t pass out in your backyard.”

“If Poe Dameron hadn’t gatecrashed my party, I would totally have taken care of you,” he said in a faux-concerned tone. “But he did, and then he was hitting on a bunch of people there, which didn’t bother me _at all_ , even when he left with Amber D’Alessio. New low, even for him. She made out with a hot dog once.”

That was probably a euphemism that Rey didn’t want to understand.

“If you want to know Ben’s ‘deal,’ why don’t you ask him yourself?” It would no doubt piss Ben off to have to deal with Hux, but whatever. He’d been weird about Poe asking her questions. (What, did he think that in-universe Poe was going to ditch him for Rey? Ben didn’t even _like_ Poe all that much.) Besides, Rey was slightly more comfortable dealing with ‘pissed-off Ben’ than with ‘taking care of drunk Rey’ Ben.

“I think I will,” Hux said. “We have chemistry together.” _What? Since when do Hux and Ben have--_ “Mr Duvall makes us change lab partners all the time. I’ll make him assign Ben Solo to be my new lab partner.” _Oh. Chemistry_ class. “Bet that’ll drive Poe Dameron _crazy._ ”

 

* * *

 

Ben was still smarting over the fact that he couldn’t drive ( _For kriff’s sake, I’m a kriffing_ adult _in charge of a massive galactic organization, and I can’t drive a kriffing_ car _in this kriffing universe_ ) on Monday morning, and his mood was not improved by Dameron’s continued interest in Rey.

“There’s nothing going on between you and Rey Heron, is there?” Dameron said by way of greeting as he sat down next to Ben in literature class. 

“What? Why would you ask that? No. Definitely not.” _Unfortunately._  

Dameron raised an eyebrow. “So you’re cool if I ask her out?”

“Yeah, of course. Sure. Go for it. I’m sure she’s interested in you.” _Unfortunately as well._  

“Cool,” he said, nodding. “Cool.” Ben didn’t know how to interpret the look on his face, but it didn’t look like the expression of someone who was excited about asking someone out. It looked more like the expression of someone who was planning something... Which, actually, okay, maybe it _did_ look like the expression of someone who was planning the right way to ask someone out.

Kriff.

The weirdness intensified in health class a couple of hours later, when Hux sat down next to Ben before Dameron or Rey arrived to class. “Ben Solo, is it?” he said.

“Yes?” Whatever Hux wanted, it couldn’t be good.

“You’re kinda new here, right?”

“Sure,” Ben said, hoping that Rey or Dameron would arrive soon so that Hux would leave him alone.

“I saw you at my party the other night. I didn’t know you wanted to hang with my crowd.”

_I don’t. I just want to ‘hang’ with Rey._ “It was an interesting party,” he said instead.

“You know, we should get to know each other better. I bet wherever you’re from is really interesting compared to Coruscant High.”

_If only you knew._ “Not really.” 

He was saved from Hux’s next question by Rey’s arrival. She blinked in surprise when she saw Hux and Ben sitting together, but then she walked over and sat next to Hux. (Was it Ben’s imagination, or had she been about to sit next to him instead?) “Hey, Rey,” Hux said. “I was just getting to know your new friend Ben Solo here.”

“Really,” Rey said, giving them both a suspicious look. Had she told Hux they were friends? Because if so, was it fair that Ben had told Dameron that he and Rey didn’t know each other? _Wait, who cares? Either way, she’s not into you and you know exactly why._

“He’s new, like you. Isn’t that interesting?” Hux asked with a smile that was so sugary that it gave Ben a stomachache.

“Sure,” Rey said.

Dameron ran in just before the bell rang, earning him a verbal warning from Coach Carr. (Somehow, the gym teacher was the only one qualified to teach a bunch of teenagers not to drink or do drugs). He started to head towards the seat he normally sat in next to Ben, and did a double-take when he spotted Hux and Rey sitting next to him. “Hey, guys,” he said cautiously as he slid into his seat. “Hey, Rey.” Ben didn’t miss the shy smile she gave him. _This is so unfair._ Everyone was being weird, and it was getting in the way of him secretly pining over Rey.

“At your age, you’re gonna be having a lot of urges,” Coach Carr said as soon as class began. Ben was barely paying attention, figuring that it wasn’t necessary for another round of ‘don’t do drugs.’ “You’re gonna want to take off your clothes and touch each other.”

_That_ caught his attention. Since when had the curriculum changed from “death sticks will kill you”? And why oh _why_ did it have to be this particular topic?

“But if you do touch each other, you will get chlamydia. Or get pregnant. And die.”

“A little extreme, don’t you think?” Hux said under his breath. Ben had no idea who he was talking to.

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Rey whispered. 

“He is missing a pretty big demographic if he thinks that any kind of sex results in pregnancy,” Poe agreed. 

_Kriff, no, please let’s change the topic now_ Ben caught himself thinking. There was no way that being in a teenage body discussing sex when Rey was sitting _right there_ was going to end in any other way than humiliation for him. He felt his face heat up and prayed that nobody was paying enough attention to him to notice. He thought he saw Poe give him a weird look out of the corner of his eye, but he must have looked less obviously uncomfortable than he thought, because Poe didn’t say anything.  

He all but ran out of the classroom, muttering something to Poe about needing to stop at his locker before his next class. A 45-minute class period had never been so _long._ He prayed to whatever deities existed in this universe that Rey hadn’t noticed anything weird (and if she had, that she wouldn’t say anything about it), but luck was not on his side, because the first thing she said to him in calculus class later on was “Are you okay? You weren’t looking well earlier.”

The fact that Rey was concerned about him was good, Ben knew. But the fact that she was only concerned because he’d been so weird earlier because of the whole ‘talking about sex + teenage body + Rey is nearby’ formula overrode any sense of success that he felt about the whole thing. “I’m fine,” he said, feeling his face heat up again. “Everything’s under control. Situation normal. How are you?”

 

* * *

 

Rey didn’t know which was weirder, Hux’s sudden interest in Ben, or Poe’s sudden interest in her. Not that she minded hanging out with Poe. Even though he wasn’t _her_ Poe, he was still Poe. And besides, sometimes Ben hung out with them, too. And yeah, hanging around Ben was weird these days--like, how the kriff was she supposed to reconcile awkward-teenage-Ben-who-made-sure-she-didn’t-pass-out-in-a-pile-of-her-own-vomit-at-a-party with Supreme-Leader-of-the-First-Order-Ben?--but he was still _Ben_ , and he was still the only person in the entire universe who understood her. It was just all so complicated.

She walked into the cafeteria a week later and stopped when she saw Ben sitting in her usual seat at Hux’s table. He didn’t look particularly comfortable (Rey was startled to realize that she knew his body language so well), but he wasn’t fighting Hux off. It was then that she realized that there was music playing.

_I like you the way you are when we’re driving in your car and you’re talking to me one-on-one but you’ve become_  
_Somebody else round everyone else watching your back like you can’t relax  
__You’re trying to be cool you look like a fool to me_  

“What the kriff?” she said as she looked around. “Where’s that music coming from?” There were speakers on the ceiling, but the sound wasn’t coming from them. 

_Tell me why do you have to go and make things so complicated?  
_ _I see the way you’re acting like you’re somebody else gets me frustrated_

“What music?” Poe said, suddenly appearing to Rey’s left. She jumped. It was difficult to sneak up on her, but she’d been so consumed by how oddly relevant the music was that she hadn’t been paying attention. “There’s no music playing, unless you’re wearing headphones, in which case, I want in.”

_Life’s like this you, you fall and you crawl and you break and you turn it in into honesty  
__You promised me I’m never gonna find you fake it, no, no, no._  

“You don’t hear that?” she said, looking up at the ceiling.

“Nope, no music,” Poe said cheerfully. “Wanna eat lunch with me? I think Ben is a little occupied,” he said, nodding in the direction of Hux’s table. Rey was mildly alarmed to see Hux reach up to run his hands through Ben’s hair, and she didn’t miss the way Poe’s eyes narrowed at the sight.

The music faded as she followed Poe to a table on the other side of the cafeteria. “That was so weird,” she said. “You really didn’t hear that music?”

“It was probably someone’s ringtone,” Poe said. “Come on. Sit. Tell me about yourself, Rey Heron.”

“What do you want to know?” Rey said, forcing herself to face Poe instead of continuing to stare at Hux and Ben.

“Do you always hear music when you walk into the cafeteria?” he said with a grin.

Rey forced herself to smile back, still unnerved by the fact that she’d hallucinated music that she’d never heard before. “No, not usually,” she said. “I guess today is just special.”

“I finally get a chance to eat lunch with you. Of course today is special.” Poe’s eyes kept flickering between hers and something behind her that Rey assumed was Hux and Ben. _Don’t look, don’t ask. Don’t look, don’t ask. Don’t look, don’t_ \-- “It’s too bad our mutual friend Ben isn’t around for it, but that’s okay. I kind of want you all to myself.”

Why was Poe laying it on so thick? This wasn’t the first time she’d been in a universe where he had some sort of romantic relationship with in-universe her. But there was something weird about it this time.

Maybe it was just Rey’s own jealousy that made it seem so weird. _Don’t look, don’t ask._

“That’s sweet of you,” she said as she gave him another smile. “I’m really not all that interesting, though, I swear.” She hated walking the line between “blatantly lying” and “telling the ‘believable’ parts of the truth.” She’d always been a bad liar, and it was exhausting to have to keep up the pretense of being a normal part of the universe.

Force, she couldn’t wait until she and Ben finally got home. If they ever got home.

“I beg to differ,” Poe said. “Like I said before, if Hux likes you, you must be something special. He doesn’t like anyone. Except Ben Solo, apparently.” He finished the sentence in a grumble. _Ah. So Poe is jealous, too._ Whether he was jealous of Hux or of Ben, Rey couldn’t figure out. Both seemed equally likely.

And it wasn’t like Rey didn’t understand why Poe would be attracted to Ben.

Unfortunately.

When she didn’t respond, Poe continued. “So hey, I was thinking. If you’re not doing anything on Friday, do you want to hang out? We can grab a slice at Pizzeria Romano. You like pizza, right?”

Since trying pizza in the first universe she and Ben had gone to, it had quickly become one of Rey’s favorite foods. (She’d decided long ago that if she ever got home, she was going to find a way to replicate it. Somewhere in the galaxy there had to be the correct ingredients for it, right?) And Pizzeria Romano was a popular place for Coruscant High students to hang out. Which meant that Poe wasn’t asking her on an actual _date_ , was he? He just wanted to hang out. 

“Pizza sounds great,” she said, giving him the first genuine smile of the conversation. “Is Ben coming?” She tried to make her tone sound as casual as possible, but her heart started speeding up. _Damn you, hormones._

“Oh,” Poe said, tearing his eyes away from the scene behind her. “I thought it could be, you know, just the two of us.”

“Right,” Rey said. “Just the two of us.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Hanging out without Ben? Nope, absolutely no. No problem at all. Why do you ask?” She could feel her face heating up now as well. _Way to keep it casual, Rey._

“No reason,” Poe said quickly. “Just wanted to make sure.” _Just wanted to make sure what?_ Rey wondered, but he didn’t elaborate. Something must have happened behind Rey, because the next thing she knew, Poe was leaning forward to pull her in for a kiss. 

_What. The. Kriff._ “What are you doing?” she hissed as she pulled back.

Not that it was a bad kiss. It was decent enough. It just wasn’t really what Rey was looking for. (Also, kissing Poe was, like, really, _really_ weird.)

“Sorry,” Poe said, flashing her a smile. He at least had the decency to look apologetic. “Cafeteria probably isn’t the right place for this, is it?” The bell rang before Rey had a chance to respond, and Poe said “See you Friday!” before walking off. She couldn’t keep herself from whipping her head around to see what Poe had been staring at, only to catch a glimpse of Ben’s face as he watched her from across the cafeteria. She didn’t know if he’d seen anything, but judging by Poe’s pre-kiss reaction, they had been within Ben and Hux’s line of view. Rey didn’t know what she’d been expecting from Ben, but he was wearing an oddly stoic expression that said that seeing her kiss Poe hadn’t affected him in any way. Not that Rey didn’t already know that he didn’t see her like that, but...why was she disappointed by his (lack of) reaction?

 

* * *

 

The only reason Ben had agreed to sit with Hux, Mitaka, and Phasma was that he knew that Rey usually sat with them, and he wanted to see her because he was dumb and hopelessly in love and couldn’t stay away. 

_Pink is not a good color on Hux,_ he thought as he listened to him talk and tried to pretend that he wasn’t glancing around the cafeteria, looking for Rey.

“...so the other day I was saying to Mitaka how great your hair is,” Hux said. “Can I touch it?” Before waiting for an answer, he reached up to run his hands through Ben’s hair. “Wow. It’s so luscious. You _have_ to share your hair care secrets with me.”

Ben shrugged off Hux’s hands. _Nobody_ got inside his personal space bubble like that. The only person he wanted there was Rey, and she was completely off-limits. And, ugh, _Hux._ He still had nightmares about the universe where Hux had kissed them after becoming infected with an alien virus.

He caught the sight of Poe talking to Rey and leading her off in the direction of the table he and Ben normally sat at. _So much for hanging out with the First Order in hopes of seeing Rey,_ he thought glumly. And now he had to deal with Hux putting his hands all over his hair. _Kriffing great._

“No secrets,” he said as he poked at his lunch. “Just good genes, mostly.” As much as he hated most of his relatives, he had to admit that great hair definitely ran in the Skywalker family. That, and a flair for dramatics. 

Ben looked over to the other side of the cafeteria where Rey was sitting with Poe. Her back was facing him, but Poe kept looking over in their direction. He could tell that Hux was trying to ignore the sight just as much as he was, like they weren’t both jealous. Phasma and Mitaka were in on it, too, judging by the looks they were exchanging.

“Oh, come on,” Hux said with a smile that would never even dream of crossing his face back in Ben’s home universe. “There must be more to it than that. Oh, I know! Hang out with us this Friday. We’re going to Pizzeria Romana. They have a special on Hawaiian pizza on Friday.”

“Sure,” Ben said, only half-paying attention. The other half of his attention was on Poe and Rey. What was Poe doing? Rey was supposed to be _here,_ sitting with _him._ Well, okay. Sitting with her in-universe “friends.” But still.

Mitaka finally broke whatever silent conversation he and Phasma had been having. “I can’t believe Rey is sitting with _Poe Dameron,_ ” he said. He yelped as Phasma elbowed him. “What?” he asked.

“It’s fine,” Hux said, sounding a little strained. “I don’t mind. It gives me a chance to-- _that slut!_ ”

Ben and Hux were now staring openly as Poe leaned over and kissed Rey. “How _dare_ she?” Hux hissed. “I, like, _invented_ her, you know what I mean?”

The bell rang and Poe walked off, leaving Rey sitting at the table. Ben simultaneously wished he could see her expression and dreaded seeing it. He didn’t want to know that she’d enjoyed that. It wouldn’t have been the first time they ended up in a universe where Poe was interested in Rey, and even though they were all in some form of “awkward teenage phase,” Poe seemed to manage it better than anyone else. Which made Ben incredibly jealous and if he’d grown up with Poe Dameron, he was sure he would have spent his teenage years in a constant state of jealousy. (Which, actually, probably would have been a good indicator of the path he’d end up taking later in life...Jedi weren’t supposed to feel jealousy.)

Hux was still hissing insults to Mitaka and Phasma, who were nodding sympathetically, but Ben couldn’t keep his eyes off of Rey until he saw her head turn to make eye contact with him. He quickly schooled his features into some semblance of disinterest--like he needed to let anyone know just how much that sight had bothered him--and found Rey wearing a similar expression. Something about that struck him as strange, but he was suddenly very interested in what Hux was saying. 

“--I can’t believe she and--Ben, _please_ tell me you’re coming with us to Pizzeria Romano on Friday. I need some good news.”

“Uh,” Ben said, still trying to pretend that he wasn’t bothered by the sight of Rey kissing Dameron. “Yes?”

The scene was still replaying in his head on a loop hours later, as he was sitting outside of the school, waiting for Poe. (Ben still hadn’t been able to successfully mind trick anyone into letting him drive again, so he’d been depending on his “friend” for rides.) The fact that Rey normally walked out that way to catch a ride with Hux, Mitaka, or Phasma definitely had nothing to do with the way he was not-so-subtly looking out at the students around him, trying to spot her.

A couple of minutes later, she walked out of the school alone. Either she didn’t see Ben, or she was ignoring him, because she didn’t look over or acknowledge his presence at all. As he watched her wait outside the school for one of her “friends” to show up, music started playing from somewhere that Ben couldn’t identify.

_Am I more than you bargained for you? I’ve been dying to tell you anything you want to hear_  
_‘Cause that’s just who I am this week_  
_Lie in the grass next to the mausoleum  
__I’m just a notch in your bedpost but you’re just a line in a song_  

“What the hell?” he muttered, looking around for a set of speakers. The music was probably just coming from someone’s car, but--

_Drop a heart, break a name, we’re always sleeping in but we’re sleeping for the wrong team_

The song was uncomfortably relevant to the way Ben was feeling at the moment, and he was starting to wonder why it didn’t fade as the car it was most likely playing from drove away.

_We’re going down, down, in an earlier down  
__And sugar we’re going down swinging_  

“Do you hear that music?” he said as Poe walked up.

Poe frowned. “What music?”

_I’ll be your number one with a bullet  
__A loaded god complex, cock it and pull it_  

“That music,” Ben said, whipping his head around.

“Weird,” Poe said. “Rey was hearing music that I couldn’t hear earlier, too. Maybe I need to get my ears checked.” At the mention of Rey’s name, Ben felt his face heat up. _Oh no. Is he about to tell me all about the kiss? Because I might actually throw up if I have to hear about it._ “Dude, I can’t believe she said yes when I asked her out,” Poe said.

“What?” Ben said faintly.

“Like, I’m totally mad at you for ditching me at lunch to hang out with the Plastics, of all people, but joke’s on everyone, because I got to ask Rey out. Thank god, too. Did it make Hux mad?”

Ben blinked. “Are you just...using her to make Hux jealous?”

Poe shrugged. “Not jealous, necessarily. I’m trying to piss him off. You were right there. You saw him. Was he mad?”

“You can’t just _use_ Rey like that,” Ben said. If she actually liked Dameron--which, obviously, she did; who wouldn’t?--that was going to hurt her. Possibly a lot. “That’s really shitty, man.”

“Why do you care?” Poe asked, giving him a side eye look.

“I don’t,” Ben said quickly.

“The whole school is gonna see us at Pizzeria Romano on Friday,” Poe said. “It’s gonna make Hux so mad when he finds out.”

“Oh, he’ll be there,” Ben said. “He invited me.”

Poe raised an eyebrow. “Hux,” he said. “Invited you. To get pizza. On Friday.”

Ben nodded. “Is that a problem?”

“No, no problem at all,” Poe said, with a grin. “Even better. He’ll get to witness it firsthand as I take his new best friend out on a date.”

Not that Ben had been particularly excited for Friday (even if there _was_ Hawaiian pizza involved), but if it was going to give him the chance to keep and eye on Poe (and the opportunity to beat him up if he hurt Rey), he was taking it. “Oh, Hux is gonna be there. And Phasma, and Mitaka, and you, and Rey. Great.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ben is hallucinating ["Sugar We're Going Down" by Fall Out Boy](https://youtu.be/uhG-vLZrb-g). Rey is hallucinating ["Complicated" by Avril Lavigne](https://youtu.be/5NPBIwQyPWE). Because all high school comedies need to have a soundtrack.
> 
> Ben definitely would have been a huge Fall Out Boy fan if he had been a teenager in the 00s. And maybe secretly and [Avril Lavigne](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGR65RWwzg8) fan, too. 
> 
> Spoiler alert for the next chapter: I attempt to write out a movie montage scene, because no movie about teenagers is complete without a montage. Any guesses as to which song and what kind of montage it will be?


	4. I'm begging you to beg me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obligatory prom scene, now with bonus “hilariously inappropriate song playing at a dramatic moment” trope!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you ever noticed how high school comedies don’t always have timelines that make sense? Like, it’s November, and yet people are already accepted to college, and then prom is just around the corner? (If you’re unfamiliar with the US education system, university applications generally aren’t even due until January or February unless you’re applying for early acceptance, which not all schools offer. Prom is generally at the end of the school year, in May or June.)
> 
> The only thing you need to know about the movie Clueless is that there’s [a scene in which someone delivers the line “You’re a virgin who can’t drive” like it’s the insult to end all insults](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY0bHULptWQ).

Friday night went about as well as Rey expected. She took a bus into town, despite Poe’s offer of a ride (she was embarrassed by the place she lived, and anyway, she could take care of herself). He was already waiting for her when she arrived at Pizzeria Romano, and he gave her a big, charismatic grin when he spotted her. “You look great,” he said as he pulled her in for a kiss. Rey turned her head at the last second so that his lips landed on her cheek instead of on hers. “Shall we?”

The sooner she could get some pizza in her stomach, the better. She nodded, and he held the door open for her, which was something that was “polite” in this universe. (The lack of sliding doors was still so weird to her, even after all the time they’d spent in different variations of this universe.)

Rey knew that this was a popular hangout spot for Coruscant High students. She knew that there was a good chance that they’d run into their classmates. But she wasn’t expecting to walk in and see Ben, Hux, Phasma, and Mitaka all sitting together. And even though they weren’t _actually_ her friends, she still felt a little hurt that they had decided to meet up for dinner and hadn’t even bothered to tell her about it.

Upon spotting their table, Poe grabbed her hand as if he was trying to make a statement. “Oh, hey, Ben,” Poe said as he waved at their table. “Fancy seeing you here.”

Ben’s annoyance was rolling off of him in waves. Rey didn’t know if it was obvious to anyone else, or if it was just that they were so in tune with each other. But whether he was annoyed at spending time with the teenage versions of the First Order leadership (which, _why_ was Ben spending time with them, anyway? Surely it had nothing to do with _her_ , right?) or because he was annoyed that Poe had apparently ditched him for Rey, she couldn’t tell.

To be fair, Rey was probably emitting the same reaction. She was getting pulled into some sort of dumb teenage drama, and she had better things to worry about. Like, you know, _getting the kriff back to her home universe._ And the image of Hux running his hands through Ben’s hair had stuck with her, giving her a stomachache every time she thought about it. (It wasn’t fair that fake-teenage-Hux could touch Ben’s hair and she couldn’t. It always looked so _soft._ )

“Rey,” Hux said coolly, ignoring Poe. “I was just telling Ben that his hair looks so sexy when it’s pushed back. Will you tell him that his hair looks sexy pushed back?”

Rey felt her face go from zero to a hundred degrees, and silently cursed the fact that she had “no chill,” as they said in this universe. What sort of game was Hux playing here? 

She realized that she was taking too long to speak when he raised an eyebrow at her. “Uh, your hair looks sexy pushed back.” Not that she agreed at all with that statement, but it seemed to satisfy Hux, because he smirked and took his hands away from Ben’s head. Rey was too embarrassed to look at Ben, so she had no idea how he had reacted to that statement. _Sorry,_ she tried to apologize silently. 

_It’s fine._ Rey hadn’t known that it was possible for Ben’s thoughts to sound gruff, but their current situation was exceeding all sorts of expectations at the moment. _Don’t worry about it. Hux is just an asshole, no matter where we encounter him._

Rey had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from grinning. She tuned back into the conversation to hear Poe say, “Come on, Rey. Let’s go find a seat. Good seeing you, Ben.” Despite trying to act like he was avoiding drama, Poe made sure to choose a seat within good view of Hux and Ben. Rey moved to sit across from him in the booth, but he pulled her in to sit next to him instead. “Fancy running into Ben here,” he said in a tone that indicated that he wasn’t surprised at all. 

“Yeah,” she said. “Weird.” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hux sling his arm around Ben’s shoulders. It would have been a funny sight--Ben was a tall and gawky teenager, and he looked so embarrassed by it--except that Rey was too jealous (and too uncomfortable with how jealous she was) to find it amusing. Poe must have felt the same way, because he made a show of slinging his arm around her shoulders as well. He was uncomfortably warm, but Rey was trying too hard to pretend that she wasn’t bothered by anything in her current situation to do anything more than shift awkwardly, hoping that he would get the hint.

He didn’t, and as if in response, Hux leaned over to whisper in Ben’s ear. Rey couldn’t tell what he was whispering, but she saw how red Ben’s face got, so it must have been something good. _Probably more hair-related compliments,_ she thought grouchily. Her blush still hadn’t lessened, and she _really_ hoped that Ben hadn’t noticed how much time she seemed to be spending lately thinking about his hair. _Weird, Rey._  

“So,” said Poe. “That was weird, right?”

She let out a sharp laugh. “‘Weird’ doesn’t quite cover it,” she said.

“I thought you and Hux were, like, best friends,” Poe said. “I’m honored that you ditched him tonight to come hang out with me instead.”

Rey shrugged. “Hux knew I was busy,” she said, avoiding the truth that she had actually been snubbed. But if she had known that Ben was going to be there, maybe she would have ditched Poe for them…

_No, that would be too obvious._

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Hux had upped the ante in a very weird way by leaning in to sniff Ben’s hair. Which made Rey even more pissed off-- _jealous, admit that you’re jealous_ \--than playing with Ben’s hair had. Not that she’d ever admit it (and she was keeping it locked the kriff down mentally), but she’d taken to sleeping in Ben’s shirt. Because it smelled like him. And stars, she was so pathetic about the whole thing.

She was startled out of her thoughts by the sensation of lips on her neck. She whipped her head around to ask Poe what the hell he was doing, but before she could get a word out, he grabbed her chin to pull her in for a very showy kiss.

_Kriff._

And fine, okay, _maybe_ part of her enjoyed it a little bit, but that was just because it was another way to try to convince herself that she was fine with the fact that she couldn’t have Ben. Just as Poe tried to force her lips open so that he could stick his tongue in her mouth (which, _gross_ ), Hux shrieked, “Boo, you whore!” from across the room.

Rey pushed Poe away and stood up to see Hux pointing and yelling at her. “You’re supposed to be my friend, you _bitch_!” he yelled. “And _you_!” he shouted at Poe. “What do you think you’re doing, going after my new best friend? God, why can’t you just let me go? You are _so_ immature.”

Poe turned to face the rest of the restaurant, which had gone silent. “Raise your hand if you’ve ever been personally victimized by Armitage Hux.” Unsurprisingly, every single teenager--and some of the adults--raised their hands.

“Oh, my _god_ ,” Hux said. “I’m _sorry_ that people are so jealous of me. I can’t help that I’m popular.”

“Of _course_ you’re making this about yourself,” Poe said. “God, you’re the worst.”

“No, _you’re_ the worst,” Hux shouted. “You’re using _my_ best friend to try to make me jealous. You’re making a huge scene.”

“God, I am _so_ sorry,” Poe said, sounding not sorry at all. “Really, I don’t know why I’m doing this. I guess it’s probably because I’ve got a big, _lesbian_ crush on you!”

_I am pretty sure that’s not how that works,_ Rey thought. 

“And you!” Poe shouted at Ben. “What the _hell_ are you doing, hanging out with the enemy? I thought you were my friend!” Without waiting for an answer, he stormed out of the restaurant, leaving everyone watching the scene in silence.

 

* * *

 

Ben took about five seconds of tense, awkward silence from the teenage First Order before he decided that running after Poe was the lesser of two uncomfortable evils. “What the hell?” he said as soon as he caught up to Poe. “I _told_ you not to use Rey like that. That’s incredibly shitty, even by high school standards!” This was mostly about Poe being shitty and definitely only a tiny bit about Ben’s jealousy.

Mostly. 

“What would you know about love?” Poe said, turning to glare at Ben. “You’re a virgin who can’t drive.” He delivered it like it was the ultimate form of insult. It was embarrassingly true, but Ben had been called much, _much_ worse.

So instead of reacting like someone who had been brutally wounded, he burst into laughter. “Seriously?” he said. “Of all the insults, you choose _that_?”

“It’s true, isn’t it?” Poe shot back.

“That’s--that’s not the point!” Ben said. Never mind the fact that he had no idea how Poe knew about Ben’s (complete lack of) sexual history.

“You can’t _possibly_ know how it feels to be betrayed by the sight of your _best friend_ hanging around your ex!”

“ _You_ were the one who thought this whole setup was a good idea in the first place!” Ben said. “Use _me_ to make sure Hux came tonight, use _Rey_ to make him jealous, and--” He stopped when he saw Poe’s eyes fix on something behind him, and he whirled around to see Rey standing there. 

To Ben’s relief, she didn’t look surprised--or hurt--by the revelation that Poe had been using her to fuel some stupid teenage drama. But the image of her kissing Poe--and looking like she _enjoyed_ it--wouldn’t stop replaying in his head, and he couldn’t help but feel irrationally angry at her for it. “Great,” he muttered. “Just what I _kriffing_ need.”

“What is it, asshole day?” she said. “I always knew that Skywalkers were over-the-top, but I didn’t think you would stoop so low as to fuel some stupid teenage drama. And _you_ ,” she said, pointing at Poe. “Have romcoms taught you nothing? Using someone to make someone else jealous always ends in disaster.”

“Whatever,” Poe said. “I’m outta here. You can find your own ride to school, Solo.”

Rey waited until he was out of earshot to hiss, “What the kriff are you doing? We have better things to do. Like figure out how to get the kriff out of this universe. I hate being sixteen.” 

“You think I enjoy it any more than you do?” Ben retorted. “I was so _weak_ at this age.” Not to mention that there were some choices that he would have made very differently if he had been able to go back to when he was actually sixteen. Jedi school? Kriff that. He would have avoided his uncle like the plague if he had known how _that_ was going to turn out. Hell, maybe Rey would even have actually _liked_ him if they had met in a more normal manner that didn’t involve kidnapping her. 

“Oh, sure, make it into some stupid macho strength thing,” she said. “You just don’t like that I can kick your ass.”

Actually, Ben was a little (weirdly) turned on by the fact that she could kick his ass, but that wasn’t an appropriate thing to mention at the moment. “Why are you mad at _me_?” he said. “I didn’t do anything.”

“You’re wasting time by getting involved in this banthashit,” she said. “Stars, it’s like I have to do all the work around here.” 

“‘All the work around here’? You just made out with _Poe Dameron_ in the middle of a restaurant!”

“It’s none of your business who I choose to kiss or do anything with!” She took a deep breath, like she was trying to calm herself ( _stupid Jedi tricks,_ Ben thought). Then she said, “Kriff this. I’m going home. Don’t follow me.” She turned and walked quickly away without another word.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Ben called after her. And then he was alone in a parking lot with no way to get home. Which was the point at which Poe’s “devastating” insult actually hit home. _For kriff’s sake,_ he thought as he started to walk home. _I really_ am _a virgin who can’t drive._

 

* * *

 

The Monday after the Pizzeria Romana incident was just as awkward as Rey had expected it to be. The teenage First Order wasn’t speaking to her, and they made a point of not leaving a seat for her at the lunch table. Poe tried to talk to her once, but was silenced by the glare she gave him. _No more banthashit drama for me,_ she thought. And she and Ben were mutually ignoring each other, which was just as fun as every other time they’d mutually ignored each other. _Kriffing Skywalkers._

The next few months passed in a blur. No, a literal blur. Rey couldn’t figure out how time worked in this universe. October 3rd was just two weeks ago, but then, next thing she knew, it was May, and people were talking about prom and college and she had no friends, even the fake teenage First Order friends, but there was something compelling her to get involved in the big school dance. She assumed it was a Force vision of some sort, and figured that she may as well follow it. Besides, getting all dressed up was kind of fun sometimes. It wasn’t something she’d ever had the luxury to do, not while she was in the middle of a galactic war, and _definitely_ not when she’d been scraping by on Jakku.

So Rey, the resourceful scavenger that she was, managed to find a nice dress and some nice shoes. And yeah, it was stupid, and yeah, she had no friends to go with, but whatever, if the Force said she had to go, then she would go.

And if the Force was telling her to go...then it was probably telling Ben, as well. And even though she was still mad at him (and if she was being honest, some of that was actually irrational jealousy), she knew that eventually they’d have to make up enough that they could work together again.

So, fine. It was fine. Everything was fine.

 

* * *

 

_Baby, I’m so into you  
__You’ve got that something, what can I do?_  

Rey pulled on the dress and looked at herself in the shitty bathroom mirror at Plutt’s foster care house. Did it look okay? Was it a socially acceptable thing to wear in this universe? She really didn’t want to stand out here. 

Well, okay, if Ben _happened_ to notice and she _happened_ to look really good, that _might_ make her feel a bit better about the current status of their (lack of) relationship. She was sick of feeling all torn up about it. And yeah, there wasn’t much she could do about her awkward, knobby, skinny teenage body, but hell, she could at least _try_.

_Baby, you spin me around  
__The earth is moving, but I can’t feel the ground_  

Poe pulled on his jacket and spun around before winking at himself in the mirror. Damned if he was going to let his heartbreak over Armitage Hux keep him from going to the prom. Besides, he was in the running for Supreme Prom Leader. He _had_ to be there.

_Every time you look at me  
__My heart is jumping, it’s easy to see_  

Phasma pulled on the bright silver sandals that matched the silver dress that was so metallic, it looked like it was actually made of chrome. Not that she needed the added height of heels at her height, but it made her feel good to tower over everyone else. Not even the ridiculously tall Ben Solo could match her height. And that was the way she liked it.

Plus, if she looked scary enough, maybe Hux would shut the fuck up for once about Poe Dameron.

And, maybe, just maybe, she’d feel confident enough to ask Mitaka to dance with her.

_You drive me crazy, I just can’t sleep  
__I’m so excited, I’m in too deep_  

Mitaka nervously buttoned up his dress shirt, forcing himself to take a few calming breaths. _It’s just a dance,_ he told himself. _Just another dance. And you’re friends. So it’s not like Phasma is going to say no if I’m hanging around her all night and we just_ happen _to end up dancing together._ He was surprised that Armitage hadn’t weaseled Mitaka’s embarrassingly huge crush on Phasma out of him, but then again, Armitage had been so concerned with the whole Poe Dameron thing that he was barely paying attention to anything else these days. Mitaka and Phasma had spent a lot of time recently bonding over how annoying Armitage’s pining was. And tonight was the night that it was all going to change. He just knew it.

_Oh-oh-oh crazy, but it feels all right  
__Baby, thinking of you keeps me up all night_  

Ben grimaced as he ran his fingers through his hair. Why were his ears so weird? Kriff, being a teenager was _the worst._ The one saving grace to this situation was that they’d fast-forwarded through a few months that he otherwise would have had to spend in social isolation, pining away over Rey like the pathetic former-Supreme-Leader-who-can’t-even-manage-a-stupid-Jedi-mind-trick-anymore that he was.

And, like, she was the only reason he was going to this stupid thing. Since they’d both skipped over a few months, they were both still angry like their fight had been last week. And angry Rey meant trying-her-hardest-to-mentally-block-him-out Rey. But he’d caught on that she was convinced that something was going to happen at this big dance thing, which meant that she was going because “the Force told her to.” And _that_ meant that Ben was going, too. 

_Tell me you’re so into me  
__That I’m the only one you will see_  

“Love is stupid,” Hux muttered to himself as he combed his hair back. “This dance is stupid. Poe Dameron is stupid. _I’m_ stupid for still being in love with him.” 

_Tell me I’m not in the blue, oh  
__That I’m not wasting my feelings on you_  

Rey sighed as she inspected herself in the mirror. She’d never become as proficient in cosmetics as some of her in-universe selves seemed to be, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to try. Plus, she needed all the help she could get making her sixteen-year-old self look good. “Kriffing hell, I can’t wait to get back in my own body again,” she grumbled as she gave her face one last look over.

_Loving you means so much more  
__More than anything I ever felt before_  

It wasn’t like Hux could skip the dance. Supreme Prom Leader had come down to a contest between him and Poe, and like _hell_ he was going to be scared off by the thought of having to stand up on stage and look his ex in the eye and act like he wasn’t secretly completely broken up inside over the fact that he loved Poe, and Poe didn’t love him back.

_You drive me crazy, I just can’t sleep  
__I’m so excited, I’m in too deep_  

“You look so _handsome_!” Leia squealed as Ben walked down stairs. “Han, doesn’t he look so _handsome_?”

Force, this was even worse than Leia saying “I’m not a regular mom, I’m a cool mom!” Somehow, domestic, sweet, actually-acting-like-a-mother Leia was far more terrifying than Princess-slash-Senator-slash-General Leia Organa. 

“Leia, stop, you’re embarrassing the kid,” Han said. “C’mon, kid. I’ll get you the car keys.” 

_Oh-oh-oh crazy, but it feels all right  
__Baby, thinking of you keeps me up all night_  

“Well, that’s as good as it’s going to get,” Rey muttered to herself in the mirror. She’d already stolen Plutt’s car keys and made sure he was passed out on the living room couch. (No, not like _that._ She’d just slipped some Nyquil into his beer.)

_Crazy, I just can’t sleep  
__I’m so excited, I just can’t sleep_  

“Hey kid,” Han said as he handed Ben the car keys. (At least the literal blur of time had meant that Ben could drive again.) “I know you said that you don’t have a date, but I understand if you’re just trying to keep them a secret from your mother and her need to photo document everything.”

“Um,” Ben said. “What?”

“I understand that prom is a big night for you teenagers, so if you need a little, ahem, _something,_ check the glovebox. We just want you to be safe.”

Ben had no idea what Han was talking about, so he waited until he was alone to open the car glovebox to try to figure out what the hell he was talking about.

_Oh,_ he thought as he saw a box of condoms sitting in there. _Great. Why is everyone in this universe so fixated on my sexual history?!_

_Crazy, but it feels all right  
__Baby, thinking of you keeps me up all night_  

And in true teenage high school drama fashion, they all entered the prom-ified cafeteria from different entrances all at the same time.

 

* * *

 

Ben had to hold in his laughter as he stepped in to the cafeteria. It looked _hideous._ Supposedly, it had an “Lost in Space” theme, which in this universe, translated to “paper stars hanging from the ceiling, pictures of ugly spacecraft lining the walls, and chaperones dressed in ‘space suits’.” As someone who had spent a good chunk of his life living in space, it was giving him extreme secondhand embarrassment for the architects behind this design. 

He knew Rey was here, somewhere nearby. He knew that she knew he was here as well. They were both on high alert with the sense that _something_ was going to happen tonight. And even though they still weren’t really talking, it made him feel better to know that she was there.

That didn’t mean that he was going to go looking for her, though. No, he was going to hide on the edge of the cafeteria and people-watch until whatever it was that was going to happen, happened.

“Hey man,” Poe said, walking up to Ben. “Listen, I owe you an apology.”

Ben blinked. _What?_

“I shouldn’t have yelled at you that night at Pizzeria Romana, and you’re right, I shouldn’t have used Rey Heron like that. It wasn’t cool. I just.” He sighed, then leaned against the wall next to Ben. “I couldn’t admit to myself that I was still in love with him and I just wanted to hurt him like he hurt me. And then you got caught in the crossfire, and I dunno, I miss you, dude. You’re the best friend I’ve had in a long time. It’s been lonely the past few months without you.”

Not that Ben had actually experienced the past few months, but it was...strange, and oddly heartwarming to hear that he was someone’s best friend, even if that someone was Poe Dameron. He’d never been someone’s best friend before. “It’s okay,” he said. “What brought this on?” 

“We’re in competition for Supreme Prom Leader, and, I dunno, I just want to be done with the whole thing. I think I want to tell him how I feel. But, like, in a constructive way, not in a way that involves trying to make him jealous. That plan didn’t go well last time.”

“You think?” Ben said before he could stop himself.

Poe winced. “Yeah,” he said. “I think.”

 

* * *

 

Rey’s thoughts had been spinning in a whirl of _Do I acknowledge Ben’s presence? Do I talk to him? Am I still mad at him, or is this just residual jealousy that I have no right to feel? What are we even_ doing _here?_ since entering the ugly cafeteria. _Lost in Space._ Rey would have given anything to be lost in space, so long as she was lost in space in her home galaxy.

“Hey, Rey.” Hux’s tone was oddly subdued as he approached her. “You look really nice tonight.”

Rey looked down at her scavenged dress and heels. “Thanks,” she said, not sure where Hux was going with the conversation. 

“Can I tell you something?” Hux sounded so pathetic that Rey found herself nodding before she realized she was doing it. “Okay, so, I _know_ that things ended badly the last time we talked, and I know that a lot of it is my fault, and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you or on Ben Solo--who, by the way, you should totally date because I think you two would look really cute together--” Rey couldn’t stop herself from cringing and barely kept _Fuck off_ to herself. “But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, and it turns out that I’m, like, still totally in love with Poe Dameron.”

Rey could have told him that. Hell, anybody in their blast radius could have told him that. “What gave it away?”

“It’s this stupid competition for Supreme Prom Leader. I realized that I don’t want him to win because I’m still hurting and I don’t like to lose, but at the same time, I want him to win because he deserves it and I want him to be happy.” Rey had no idea what the hell a Supreme Prom Leader was, but apparently, it was important. “Anyway, I have no idea what I’m going to do tonight, but I just wanted to say I’m sorry. And if you want to join me for lunch on Monday, you’re welcome to.” He walked off, leaving Rey gaping behind him. _What the hell just happened?_

Apparently, the actual theme of this prom was “making up with your friends and exes,” because when Hux and Poe were called to the stage a little while later to reveal the winner of Supreme Prom Leader, instead of arguing about who was the better candidate ( _what does being Supreme Prom Leader entail, anyway?_ Rey wondered), they apologized, admitted that they still loved each other, and proceeded to make out on stage until one of the chaperones more or less pulled them off of each other.

All in all, it was one of the weirder things Rey had experienced since getting caught in this alternate-universe-traveling-curse.

She was still trying to process what the hell had just happened when she sensed, rather than saw, Ben approaching her from behind. She turned, letting her dress twirl around as she spun to face him. “Ben,” she said.

If she was being honest, she wasn’t all that attracted to teenage Ben, and she was pretty sure that even if he _was_ attracted to her normally, he wasn’t attracted to teenage Rey. But there was something endearing to seeing him dressed up in this universe’s idea of formal clothes and holding a flower out to her.

She raised an eyebrow. “Did you just steal that from one of the decorations?” she asked as she took it.

“What the hell kind of flowers grow in space?” he said.

“I wouldn’t know,” she said. “Haven’t spent a lot of time there.” His lips twitched, almost as if he found something amusing, but he didn’t say anything. “Listen, Ben…” she said, not really sure where she was going.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “You were right. I got caught up in the drama. Damn Skywalker genes. It’s a curse.”

Rey resisted the urge to make a scathing comment about her lack of knowledge about her genetic makeup. Instead, she smiled and said, “Yeah, it is.”

“So, are we good?” he said.

Rey nodded. “For now,” she said.

They were both silent for a moment. Then… “So, apparently, you’re supposed to dance at these things,” Ben said, waving a hand at the cafeteria around them.

“Are you asking me to dance?” _Please say yes. No, wait. Don’t._ She didn’t want to have to pretend that she was only doing it in order to be a little less conspicuous.

Ben held out his hand, but he didn’t say anything. _This fucking gesture again._ Why did “silently holding out a hand instead of verbally asking a question” seem to come so naturally to them?

She took his hand, though, because _obviously_ she didn’t want to just leave him hanging there, and then they moved onto the dance floor just in time for the song to change to something more upbeat. The style of dancing changed, too, to something that was a little less “holding each other romantically” and more “grinding up on each other in a manner that was making the chaperones feel uncomfortable." 

_I was like, good gracious, ass is bodacious, uh  
__Flirtatious, tryin’ to show faces, ah_  

“I don’t think I’m hearing those lyrics right,” Rey said to try to distract herself from the fact that the change in tempo and dance style was resulting in a really awkward set of movements as they tried not to touch too much. Neither of them was used to physical interaction.

_It’s getting hot in herre, so take off all your clothes  
_ _I am getting so hot, I wanna take all my clothes off_

“Okay, I am _definitely_ not hearing those lyrics right,” Rey said as she and Ben finally found a tempo that worked.

“Shut up and dance, Rey.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you ever tried to write a movie montage scene? It’s a weird experience. On that note, since every dumb high school rom com needs to have a playlist, here's this fic's:
> 
> [I Want You to Want Me](https://youtu.be/aquSBPS4oAU) \- Letters to Cleo  
> [You Drive Me Crazy](https://youtu.be/Q4VK9_CfOLQ) \- Britney Spears  
> [One Week](https://youtu.be/fC_q9KPczAg) \- Barenaked Ladies  
> [Tearin' Up My Heart](https://youtu.be/_ZcmuKsyvzg) \- *NSYNC  
> [Sugar We're Going Down](https://youtu.be/uhG-vLZrb-g) \- Fall Out Boy  
> [Complicated](https://youtu.be/5NPBIwQyPWE) \- Avril Lavigne  
> [Hot in Herre](https://youtu.be/GeZZr_p6vB8) \- Nelly
> 
> Anyway, if you've read this far, thank you so much for indulging in what is probably the weirdest thing I've posted on this site (which is saying something). I have more in store for these two (and it's less self-indulgent than this, I hope). But in the meantime, check out my [sarcastic soulmates AU](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15409968/chapters/35764719) that I've started posting!

**Author's Note:**

> If you're sitting there going "wait I think I heard that in a movie once," [you're](http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/mean-girls-movie-transcript.html) [probably](http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/10/10-things-i-hate-about-you-script.html) [right](https://web.archive.org/web/20091027101933/http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/5342/Clueless.htm).
> 
> I was going to wait until I finished this to post it, but...I couldn't resist sharing what I've got so far. Feel free to poke me on [tumblr](https://radioactivesaltghoul.tumblr.com/) about this (or anything else, really). Thanks for reading!


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